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“I eous and all, but it can’t only be that You have to have a secret Women everywhere would kill for a tip”

Roxanne shook her head She wasn’t up to deciphering neighbors’ riddles Now that Haidar had rematerialized in her life with the force of a live warhead and left pro further destruction, her brain was officially fried

Either that, or Kareeibberish Which was an imminent possibility The woet gods knocking down your door?”

“Uh, Kareeht have bought you explaining one god away But how do you explain another?”

Suddenly, she realized Kareelued to a point in the distance

So behind her

She whirled around And her heart hit the base of her throat

No Not another Aal Shalaan “hybrid”

Jalal

He was standing by the door she’d left open, in a charcoal suit with a shirt the color of his golden eyes, hands languidly in his pockets, looking as if he’d teleported off a GQ ht not be far-fetched She hadn’t heard the whir of the elevator or the fall of his footsteps

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, one of the two ed to sneak up on her

Kareeer around “Like we say here, ‘the neighbor takes precedence in charity’ I anxiously await a glimpse at your lance and stepped back into her apartment

Roxanne stared at the door Kareemah had just closed, her mind in a jumble

“Koll hadi’s’seneen, kammetman’nait ashoofek ain

Her heart squeezed so hard she felt it would i all shock and nostalgia She wasn’t letting another Aal Shalaan twin ht

She turned, hoping she didn’t look as shaky as she felt “If it isn’t one of the region’s twohis face didn’t waver as he slipped his hands out of his pockets, spread his ar into them “Ullah yehay’yeeki, ya Roxanne”

Ullah yehay’yeeki—literally, may God hail you, one of the not-quite-translatable colloquial praises he’d once lavished on her, usually when she’d said so intellect and wit Which had been almost every time she’d opened her mouth They’d been so alike, so in tune, it had been incredible It had also turned out to be a lie

For years afterward, she hadn’t knohich betrayal had hurt more, his or Haidar’s

She stuck her fists at her sides “Listen, buddy, I had one hell of a night, and I’ a spiral of steady deterioration for the foreseeable future So why don’t you just piss off Whatever made you pop up here, I don’t want to hear it”

“Not even if it’s iveness?”

She walked toward hier “I’ve heard that before Still not in the least interested”

He’d called her out of the blue two years ago, begging her for a face-to-faceup on him

He hadn’t called back

She came to a stop a foot away, had to still look way up, even when boosted by her highest heels

In response to her glare, he did soer inside her chest He cupped her cheek, his touch the essence of gentleness, his face, his voice that of cherishing

“Alha as you deserve You’ve grown into a pheno stopping her fro